Law enforcement agencies slammed for laxity over illicit financial flows

The elite crime fighting unit the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have come under fire in parliament for their "abysmal" report on the number of prosecutions related to illicit financial flows out of the country.

MPs from both the governing ANC and the opposition parties voiced their unhappiness when senior officials from the Directorate for Priority Crimes and the NPA reported low prosecution and conviction rates on monetary crime related to the illicit financial flows in the mining sector‚ which is said to be costing the country hundreds of billions of rand in possible tax revenue.

The MPs were speaking during a joint meeting of four portfolio committees of the National Assembly - police‚ finance‚ mineral resources and trade and industry - to discuss progress being made by law enforcement agencies in prosecuting cases related to illicit financial flows.

The agencies that took part in the meeting included the NPA‚ SARS‚ the Reserve Bank as well as the Finance Intelligence Centre.

Senior ANC MP and chairman Yunus Carrim led the charge‚ tearing apart the reports that had been presented by the acting head of the Hawks‚ Yolisa Matakata‚ and her colleagues from the NPA.

Matakata's figures showed that of 121 suspicious transactions referred to the Hawks by the Reserve Bank‚ only 54 could be investigated under the classification of illicit financial flows.

33 cases were reported in Gauteng‚ followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 11‚ the Western and Eastern Cape had three apiece‚ the Free State had 2 while Limpopo and Mpumalang each had one case.

25 of the cases remained under investigation while they had failed to result in any criminal conviction.

Carrim voiced his displeasure at the low prosecutorial and conviction rates.

"With the kind of pressures the budget is facing‚ we just need to do more…your report‚ with due respect‚ is not credible. Please do more and we are going to put pressure on the ministers and the DGs (Directors-General ) that you report to. It's abysmal what you are telling us‚ it's a small fraction of what can be done‚" said Carrim.

"We need to see some of these mining bosses going to jail for these crimes."

The DA's Alf Lees also lamented the low numbers reported by the Hawks.

"Very few cases have been dealt with by the courts and we don't know the monetary value‚" he said.

Another ANC MP‚ Derek Hanekom‚ who has taken a hard line against the Guptas and their alleged role in the capture of key state institutions and companies‚ asked the Hawks if they were under political pressure to ignore certain cases‚ which Matakata denied.

The DA'S David Maynier wanted to knonw if the Hawks were investigating what happened to the R182-million related to Estina Dairy farm project in the Free State.

Some of the funds are said to have been used to fund a lavish wedding hosted by the Guptas in Sun City in 2013‚

Matakata said they were probing the matter.

The acting boss of the Hawks‚ however‚ said part of their problem was that there was not adequate forensic capacity within the priority crimes unit to deal with complex crimes such as the illegal flow of money from within the country.